NFL Draft: Three Best Running Backs on the Board Part 2

By BetOnline April 19, 2020

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We’ve already touched on my pick for the top running back prospect, Wisconsin’s Jonathan Taylor, in Part 1. Now it’s time to unveil the next two runners that, 15 or so years ago, would have easily been Top 10 picks.

The RB position isn’t undervalued in the NFL, regardless of what anyone says. I think it’s more than it’s oversaturated. There are far too many good runners coming out of college every year. They coaching and scouting has improved at the NCAA level to the point where every team can be three or four running backs deep with guys that would have all been Pro Bowlers in the 1990s.

A guy like Cam Akers, Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Zack Moss could all be great, starting caliber running backs in the NFL, but you could say that about the next seven or eight guys behind them. You look at the top prospect RB rankings and some of these guys, the best in the country, are on the same team. It’s like that every year.

Todd Gurley, Nick Chubb and Sony Michel were ALL on Georgia’s 2014 squad. All three of them are starting RBs in the NFL right now. Every NFL roster is like that. If you’re not an Ezekiel Elliott type running back, you’re not breaking through.

Luckily for the next two guys on the list, they’re both Zeke Elliott clones.

2. J.K. DOBBINS, LSU

2019: 301 carries, 2,003 yards, 21 touchdowns, 23 receptions, 247 yards, two receiving touchdowns, 5-10, 217 pounds

Dobbins looks so much like Elliott that if he wore his jersey as a midriff, you’d just think Zeke snuck back onto Ohio State’s campus.

He shows you everything you want to see in a top running back. He’s got soft hands, runs the tight end routes when he’s asked to and can hit the home run with just a sliver of daylight. He knows how to use his speed, and more importantly, knows when not to use it, stopping starting, weaving and then hitting the spurs when he’s in the clear.

Check this play out. Again, none of these guys were asked to do a ton as pass receivers, but that’s an NFL play and an NFL catch with a guy on his back.

Like Taylor, Dobbins has the miles, but also like his Wisconsin counterpart, he’s not one to take a monster hit and his 38 TDs were mostly untouched.

Where he will be picked: Third round, and the Philadelphia Eagles should be the team that turns in the card. He’s exactly what their offense needs, a Zeke/Darren Sproles hybrid player that will take the pressure off Carson Wentz and the passing game.

3. D’ANDRE SWIFT, GEORGIA

2019: 190 carries, 1,218 yards, seven touchdowns, 24 receptions, 216 receiving yards, one receiving touchdown, 5-9, 214 pounds

Swift, to me, is a bigger version of Dobbins. If he doesn’t seem to have the speed of the other two guys, that’s because they’re both 4.3 40 guys. Swift is plenty fast, make no mistake and ran a 4.48 at the NFL combine. What I like about him is his body control. His Madden spin move rating would need to be in the 90s as a rookie.

But what you want to see in that every-down elite running back is this, making plays in the passing game and running those tight end routes, especially in the red zone. It’s what took Todd Gurley to the next level in Sean McVay’s offense. It’s what made LeSean McCoy a superstar in Andy Reid’s offense and what the Chiefs’ offense was missing when they cut Kareem Hunt.

And, if you’re making the case for Swift, he doesn’t nearly have the mileage on him that Dobbins and Taylor do.

Where he will be picked: Third round. Glut of RBs or no, none of these guys should get to the third day of the draft. They’re just too good and show too much on the film. I think the Baltimore Ravens should pull the trigger here. They got a lot out of Mark Ingram and Gus Edwards last season, but they need a guy that can stay on the field all the time and keep the defense honest, especially as they expand their passing game with Lamar Jackson.